


In (Almost) Every Reality

by notverystraight



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based on a Tumblr Post, Bickering, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon Universe, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Established Relationship, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Galaxy Garrison, Gay Keith (Voltron), Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, I mean it's established in all universes except one, Idiots in Love, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Kissing, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Multiverse, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), idk where all the fluff came from, multiple AUs, they meet themselves from other universes, this was supposed to be way more angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28647897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notverystraight/pseuds/notverystraight
Summary: When Lance finds himself face to face with alternate universe versions of himself and all his friends, he’s excited to talk to them – who wouldn’t want to see just how different their life could have turned out?However, that feeling begins to sour when Lance notices that, out of all his alternate selves, he seems to have the most underwhelming life.And another unexpected thing. He and Keith seem to be a lot more, um…friendlywith each other in the other realities…
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 353





	In (Almost) Every Reality

**Author's Note:**

> I saw [this writing prompt](https://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com/post/637055334870040576/you-suddenly-wake-in-a-room-filled-with-people) and before I knew it I’d written this. This was supposed to be super short with a small dash of implied Klance but then my one braincell that only thinks about Klance decided it had to be gayer. I guess you could see this as me taking a break from the angstiness of [COTMOY](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28477827/chapters/69779394) just to have a bit of fun. 
> 
> Hope y’all enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

Lance had no idea where he was or how he got here, but he was pretty sure this was a dream.

Because there was no way that he was staring straight at no less than three people who looked pretty much exactly like him.

Seriously. He didn’t remember cloning himself, or doing anything that may lead to it (well, he had drank a little too much of that questionable punch at Nyma’s party on Friday, but he was fairly sure that was unrelated). And he was fairly certain the rest of his friends would have given him a heads up if they’d planned on cloning themselves, too.

Oh, right. He forgot to mention. There were also copies of all his friends – Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro. But forgive Lance if he had been a little occupied staring at the three copies of _himself_ that were staring right back at him and each other with similar expressions of shock and disbelief.

“What the fuck,” one of Pidge’s clones was muttering. Everyone else was too stunned to speak.

To say that they were exactly identical in every way would be inaccurate. While each of Lance’s clones were undoubtedly _Lance_ , what seemed even more unsettling were the _differences_ – subtle, but stirring.

One of the Lances was wearing some kind of white and blue armor, with a blue V on the chest-plate. He was wearing a matching helmet, and overall seemed like he was straight out of some sci-fi cartoon.

Another was… older. Like himself, only more filled out. Maybe in his mid-twenties? He had a hint of five o’clock shadow and a scar cutting across his exposed shoulder where his white tank top didn’t cover. What caught Lance’s eye most, though, ridiculously, was the gold wedding band that sat on his ring finger.

The last was perhaps the most disconcerting. He looked… Well, he pretty much looked like Lance himself. He wore the same denim jacket and cuffed jeans combo that Lance often rocked, with vans and a white t-shirt. On the jacket he had pinned a bi pride badge, as well as many other badges that reflected Lance’s own interest. The only difference was subtle, but Lance noticed – this Lance didn’t have freckles.

“This is one weird fucking dream,” Lance blurted stupidly.

That seemed to break whatever spell had shocked everyone into silence, and then suddenly, everyone was talking at once. 

“What the _fuck_ –”

“I’m– and you’re –”

“I think I drank a little too much last night –”

“– must have been from that portal –”

“– definitely hallucinating –”

“– should have slept more than three hours –”

“– what kind of fuckery –”

“– quintessence –”

“– probably Lance’s fault –“

“– ec-fucking-scuse me –”

“ _Alright, enough!”_

Two Shiros spoke at the same time – Lance’s Shiro and Sci-fi Shiro, who was wearing the same armor as Sci-fi Lance, except the blue parts were black – before turning to each other awkwardly. Each seemed to wait for the other to go on, then they both tried to talk at the same time again, several times, before falling into a confused and embarrassed silence.

“O-kay,” Older Pidge said – she looked like Regular Pidge, except taller and with sleeker hair. “I’ve seen some freaky shit, but this is hands down the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Anyone care to explain what’s going on?” Freckle-less Lance asked, spreading his hands, “because I, for one, don’t remember cloning myself. Also, where the fuck are we?”

“I second that,” Older Hunk chipped in.

Ok, Lance hadn’t really stopped to think about it – seeing as he was too busy freaking out – but yeah, they were in literally the weirdest place imaginable. And by that, Lance meant… nowhere. The floor he was standing on was pure, blank white. The sky was the same. In fact, as far as he could see, there was nothing but white. 

“Oh, fuck,” Sci-fi Pidge whispered – her armor had green accents. “I don’t know how exactly, but guys, when we went through that portal –”

“It must have somehow brought us all here,” Sci-fi Keith finished, clad in red armor, unable to tear his eyes away from his own clones.

“Sooo, this is some freaky quintessence magic bullshit?” Sci-fi Lance asked. “And these,” he gestured to the rest of the Lance’s, “are, like, alternate universe versions of us?”

“Woah,” Sci-fi Hunk exclaimed. His armor was yellow. “That is so cool! I mean, we’ve always known that the multiverse was a thing, but these – this is literally us, you guys! This is so awesome –”

“What the _fuck_ are you talking about?” And predictably, that was Lance’s Keith. His voice was a low growl, brows knitted in frustration and gaze bouncing between the members of the sci-fi group annoyedly.

“Yeah, not to agree with Mullet, but I also have no clue what’s going on.” Lance agreed. “Would anyone care to _explain_?”

And so the paladins, as Lance learned to call them, managed to explain the situation with only minimal mental breakdown from everyone else.

Apparently, the sci-fi versions of Lance and his friends were space explorers – Paladins of Voltron, defenders of the universe, they called themselves. He decided not to point out that their story was suspiciously similar to the plot of the power rangers. Their explanation was that they had been on some mission when they had opened some kind of unstable portal in an attempt to get away from an attack from the Galra, a hostile alien race that was trying to take over the entire universe.

And yeah, aliens were a thing now.

Anyway, Paladin Pidge’s guess was that the portal had malfunctioned and instead brought them here, to some version of what she called the ‘astral plane’, and had somehow read their quintessence in order to draw the rest of them here too. Alternate universe versions of themselves, as Paladin Lance had put it. (The multiverse was also, apparently, a thing.)

If Lance was honest with himself, nothing could have shocked him more than actually seeing _three clones of himself_ , so he was just going with the flow at this point, and besides, he still wasn’t entirely convinced that this wasn’t just a very vivid dream.

“So… If you’re right,” Regular Pidge said, her eyes calculating behind her glasses, “And this is some kind of – dreamscape, or astral plane, whatever you call it,” Paladin Pidge nodded at her to go on. “Then, will we remember this when we wake up?”

The paladins exchanged glances.

“Maybe,” Paladin Shiro mused, “but I doubt it. The universe likes to keep things in order – it doesn’t just go round mixing universes together.”

Paladin Pidge nodded in agreement.

“Well,” Paladin Lance spoke up, “As much as I’d love to stand here debating our place in the universe, we’re missing the opportunity of a lifetime here! These are _alternate universe versions_ of _ourselves_!”

“We probably won’t even remember this when we get back, Lance,” Paladin Keith reminded him.

“Aw, come on, babe, live a little!” Lance felt his mouth go dry as he watched Paladin Lance throw an arm around Paladin Keith’s shoulders. _Babe_? “Haven’t you ever wanted to do this? Talk to yourself from another universe? I mean, you know, I kinda get you,” he surveyed the other Keith’s with mock judgement, “’Cause I can see you’re grumpy as ever in every reality.”

“Lance –”

“Hey –”

“Am not –”

Three of the Keiths spoke at once, except Lance’s own Keith, who was staring at the red and blue paladins with the same expression that Lance was sure he himself was wearing.

Were they…?

“I hate to break it to you, man,” Older Lance replied to his own Keith, who had longer hair tied back in a ponytail and a leather biker’s jacket, as well as a hint of stubble. “He’s totally right.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Older Keith shot back, but his voice was too fond to hold any real anger. To Lance’s shock, the older version of himself smiled and took Older Keith’s hand, intertwining their fingers, and – oh. On Older Keith’s finger, he wore a ring matching Older Lance’s.

_Oh._

Lance felt his face begin to heat up in a blush. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Older Keith and Lance’s joint hands.

He only managed to rip his gaze away when Freckle-less Lance started laughing, leaning on his own Keith for support, who couldn’t seem to hold back a smile. This Keith was almost identical to Lance’s own Keith, except his hair was shorter at the back – he had no mullet. The two turned to each other, grinning.

_Oh, don’t fucking tell me_.

“Well, would you look at that?” Freckle-less Lance murmured, grinning, “I guess we really are ‘ _meant to be’_.” It was playful and teasing, but also quiet, intimate. Lance got the feeling he wasn’t supposed to have heard it.

Mullet-less Keith pressed a kiss to Freckle-less Lance’s cheek, and chuckled when he left a soft blush and a smug grin in his wake.

_Ok, this is definitely a dream._

Hesitantly, aware of the furious blush he was sporting, Lance chanced a glance at his own Keith, and found him already looking at him, his own cheeks bright red and his eyes wide with shock and embarrassment. They quickly looked away, Lance bringing a hand to the back of his neck and Keith stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Uh,” Pidge – Lance’s Pidge – spoke up. She, like most of Lance’s friends, was wearing an expression of surprise and amusement. “I don’t know about... whatever that was, but I agree with Lance – the Space-Lance, I mean.” She got that excited nerd look in her eyes. “We don’t know how much time we have here, and I never thought I’d get to do this!”

The others spoke up in agreement with similar excitement, and when Pidge started to strike up conversation with her alternate universe selves, everyone started to split up into similar groups. Soon, all the Shiros were comparing their prosthetic arms, the Hunks were swapping recipes and stories and the Keiths were talking quietly among themselves. Which left Lance with his own clones – uh, alternate universe selves – to entertain.

“Wow, can I just say, you guys are so _young_ ,” Older Lance exclaimed, glancing around at the other Lances. “You must be, what, eighteen? Nineteen?”

“I’m nineteen,” Paladin Lance offered.

“Twenty,” Freckle-less Lance added, to which Lance said “Same.”

“Woah,” Older Lance said. “I’m twenty-six, you guys! Why are you all so young? Why am I so old?”

Paladin Lance laughed. “I can’t believe I’ve been in space for two years, fighting an intergalactic fucking _war_ , and I’m the youngest one here.”

“That is so crazy, by the way,” Freckle-less Lance told him. “Who knew there was an alternate universe where my friends and I are literal space power-rangers?”

“Excuse you, I’m… what the fuck is a power ranger?” Paladin Lance asked, looking unsure if he should be offended or not.

“Oh, shit, right, you guys are like, from the future,” Freckle-less Lance remembered. “You probably don’t even have TVs.”

“I do so have a TV!” Paladin Lance protested. “My abuelita collects a lot of antiques!”

Freckle-less Lance paused, then let out an incredulous laugh. “A-antiques?!”

“Hey, I can’t help that technology has advanced,” Paladin Lance defended, “I’ll take my holosceens over your rusty TVs any day!”

Freckle-less Lance grinned and shrugged, like, _fair enough_.

“So what do all of you do in your own universe?” Lance cut in to ask. “I mean, we already know that Paladin-Lance is a badass space pilot, fighting against evil – which is _super_ cool, by the way – but what about you guys?”

Because Lance was genuinely curious. It wasn’t every day that you see exactly how differently your life could have turned out. The space ranger thing had already blown his mind. It sounded like something straight out of those cartoons that he used to watch as a child, and play act as the characters from. He’d always had a fascination with space, and loved the idea of being a hero, so finding out that somewhere out there, there was a Lance who was living what was essentially his average childhood daydream was incredible.

As they talked, he learned that Freckle-less Lance was, much like Lance himself, studying at Altea University. However, unlike Lance, he was majoring in Astrophysics, which had been Lance’s first choice of major, until he’d ultimately realized that he didn’t have the skillset, and chosen marine biology instead. Freckle-less Lance also made time for both swimming and volunteering at the local aquarium. And on top of that, he apparently tutored young kids part-time. Basically, he was everything Lance was, just… a little _more_.

And as for Older Lance –

“Woah, you’re a space pilot too?” Lance exclaimed. Not only was one of his alternate selves living his childhood fantasy, and another living his own life better than him, but an older version of himself was trained in flying _spacecraft_ – literally his lifelong dream. Damn, what did they put in him in alternate universes that they didn’t have in his own?

Older Lance nodded with a smug grin. “Yup. I’m basically the best pilot in the Galaxy Garrison. Well, except Keith. Nobody can beat Keith. He’s... a prodigy. He flies like no-one I’ve ever seen before.”

It was similar to the kind of thing people would say about his Keith all the time, except without the contempt that Lance was used to hearing, without the bitter edge he usually made a point to instill in his own tone whenever he said things like that. Instead, Older Lance’s voice was filled with a fondness and pride that made Lance’s heart hammer in his chest.

“Oh, you too?” Paladin Lance laughed. “I’m guessing Keith’s like that in every universe. At the Garrison – my Garrison – they called him the best pilot of our generation. Better than even Shiro. It used to piss me off so much, that’s why I started that dumb –”

“– rivalry,” Freckle-less Lance finished with a grin. “A stupid, one-sided rivalry that was a terrible cover up for an insanely strong crush. Me and Keith used to play football together in high-school. Try competing with someone when you’re on the _same fucking team_.”

The other Lance’s broke into peals of laughter, but our Regular Lance was getting more and more flustered by the second, because what Freckle-less Lance had described, that was exactly what happened to _him_. _He’d_ been on the football team with Keith in high school, and he’d started some dumbass rivalry with him because Keith was _talented_ and _attractive_ and Lance hadn’t known how to deal with all that. It was a wonder that Lance’s head didn’t explode from all the blood rushing to his face.

“Are all of you guys dating Keith?” he found himself blurting, and immediately wanted to ram his head against a wall.

The others stopped to look at him for a second, before they were all grinning and exchanging knowing glances that made Lance want to melt into the floor.

“Married to Keith,” Older Lance corrected, holding up his hand to show off his ring smugly, and oh, yeah, duh. Lance resisted the urge to slap a hand over his face at his own stupidity.

“And yeah, we are,” Paladin Lance confirmed, exchanging a smile with Freckle-less Lance. “And from what I gather, you’re not?”

“N-no!” Lance spluttered. He was pretty sure his face was just permanently tomato-colored at this point. “I don’t – Keith and I – we’re not – I’m – he’s –”

He paused, rubbing at the back of his neck as all his counterparts chuckled in amusement.

“Um,” Lance continued intelligently. “If you don’t mind me asking… How did you all get together? With… K-Keith.”

“How did we start dating?” Older Lance asked, and Lance nodded bashfully. “Well, for me, we’ve been together for ten years and married for two. We met at the Garrison when we first started out there, and, man, I used to hate him so much. He just, he always seemed so much better than me, like I wasn’t even worth his time or attention. That’s why I started competing with him for simulator scores. And yet, he always remained at the top of the class, never looked back. Even when I started challenging him to his face, he didn’t seem to give a shit.

“When I found out that Pidge was friends with him, I was so mad. She started inviting him to hang out with us, the ultimate betrayal. But when I actually got to know him… I learned more about him than we see in class. I saw him for more than a child prodigy who didn’t know how to stay in line. I saw an awkward, lonely boy – a boy who cares deeply, and fiercely. And eventually, he saw me too.

“I asked him out when we were sixteen. One night we were sitting on the roof, alone together, watching the night sky. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking. But he just smiled, all big and happy, and told me that he’d brought me there to ask me the same thing. And then we had our first kiss under the stars.”

Older Lance got a faraway look in his eyes, reminiscing. He twisted the ring on his finger. “When we were twenty-four, we got married. It seems a bit young, but we’d been together for years by then, we knew it was the right time. We’d proposed to each other the previous year – yes, at the same time, because we’re idiots – and we really love each other. Our wedding was beautiful. Everybody cried – and I mean everybody. Even Shiro was bawling. It was… I mean, it sounds so cliché, but it really was the happiest day of my life. Of _both_ our lives.”

As Older Lance finished, Lance’s heart had melted into a puddle in his chest. “That’s so fucking beautiful,” he found himself saying. _Shit_. Where was his brain-to-mouth filter today?

But the other Lance’s only nodded in agreement. Paladin Lance actually turned away to discreetly wipe at his eyes.

“Yeah, damn, bitch, that’s… that’s like a whole ass rom-com,” Freckle-less Lance said, a smile quirking the corner of his mouth.

“300k, slow burn, enemies to friends to lovers,” Paladin Lance added, earning a laugh from the rest of them.

“It is pretty awesome,” Older Lance agreed. “Sometimes Keith and I just sit there staring at each other because we can’t believe we’re actually married.”

_Oh my God that’s so adorable._ Unbidden, Lance’s mind offered him an image of Older Keith and Lance at a breakfast table in their apartment, a stack of pancakes shared between them, staring into each other’s eyes with soft wonder etched into their features. Their legs would be tangled together beneath the table, their hands joined over it, and Lance would brush a thumb over Keith’s wedding ring, just to remind himself that it was there. Keith would reach over and tenderly cup Lance’s face in his hand, his gaze filled with so much love, Lance could feel himself melting, and then slowly, they would begin to lean in, until their breath tickled each other’s lips, faces inches apart, and –

_Wait what the fuck am I doing_.

Lance blinked, and pulled himself abruptly out of his daydream, blushing furiously.

Luckily, everyone was too busy smiling softly to take notice.

“Hopefully that’ll be us some day,” Paladin Lance said. “My story starts off pretty similar to yours, actually. Except, in mine, Keith dropped out before I could get to know him, and Pidge never knew him, so he barely remembered me from the Garrison. Besides, I was just a cargo pilot,” he shrugged a little self-deprecatingly, “We weren’t even in the same league. Our rivalry was entirely made up by me. And when we met again, he had no idea who I was.

“When we first got to space, we spent most of our time fighting – my fault, really. I was immediately hostile to him, didn’t even give him a chance. But eventually, through our petty bickering and pointless competitions, we became closer. We became friends. Our fighting became less aggressive, and more… our weird way of flirting, really.” He laughed, shaking his head.

“The way we actually got together was a little messy. We were… we were on a really dangerous mission – without our lions – and Keith, the self-sacrificing bastard, had seen that I was about to get shot and pushed me out of the way to– to take it instead. He was bleeding out, and I radioed Pidge and Hunk for help, but Keith thought he wasn’t going to make it, and so he just… he told me he loved me.” Paladin Lance’s voice cracked. “He told me he didn’t want to die without telling me. He didn’t even expect me to say it back, he just – h-he wanted me to know.”

Paladin Lance paused to take a breath, closing his eyes briefly before continuing. “If he’d died, I never would have forgiven him. He’s lucky I didn’t kick his ass as soon as he got out the healing pod. What I did do was kiss him. And tell him I loved him too, the idiot.”

Everyone seemed stunned into silence. Part of Lance was in shock that something so dramatic could have happened to… well, to _him_. That shit was straight out of Star Wars, or some other sci-fi film that Lance’s limited knowledge of the genre couldn’t offer him another example of. Maybe Star Trek. Fuck if he knew. Point was, _damn_. Saving the universe sounded cool and all, but Lance hadn’t fully taken in the fact that the paladins were putting their lives on the line every time they went into battle. Studying Paladin Lance, he wondered just how many scars he had hidden under that armor, physical and otherwise.

“Dude,” Freckle-less Lance said, cutting into Lance’s thoughts. His eyes were clouded with emotion. He blinked, and cleared his throat. “That’s… I mean, that’s some dramatic shit.”

Lance was inclined to agree, and nodded. “I can’t believe Keith would do that.”

“Oh, I can,” Older Lance chipped in, giving Paladin Lance a sympathetic look. “Keith is very protective – he’ll do anything to keep us safe, and he’d put his life on the line even for complete strangers. But, well, I can’t really say much because we’re exactly the same, aren’t we Lance?”

Paladin Lance cracked a smile and nodded reluctantly. “Yeah. I mean, it’s true. I’ve probably done it just as often as Keith has. The team hate us for it. But when you’re in the heat of the moment like that, you don’t really get to decide. Your body just moves before you get the chance to think. It’s instinct.”

“You never really know,” Older Lance said, “how you’ll respond in a life-or-death situation like that until you’re actually in one. Well,” he grinned at the other two Lances. “I guess you two know now.”

“Damn,” Lance couldn’t help but say, “I’m so badass in alternate universes.”

Paladin Lance seemed to preen under the praise, standing a little taller. “Well, I guess I am pretty awesome. It comes naturally to me, of course, as the team’s resident cool ninja sharpshooter."

“Do they actually call you that?” Older Lance asked, surprised.

“Yes!” Paladin Lance insisted indignantly. Then he paused. “… well, minus the cool ninja part.”

“Figures,” Older Lance said with a smirk.

“What about you?” Lance asked Freckle-less Lance. “How did you and your Keith…” Lance blushed, gesturing vaguely instead of finishing his sentence.

Freckle-less Lance gave him an amused and judgmental look, but thankfully let his floundering go unquestioned.

“Keith and I knew each other from high school,” Freckle-less Lance told him, “Well, I knew him from high school. It took a while for him to recognize me when we met again in college. Which just resulted in me stretching out our rivalry to ridiculous lengths, since we both major in the same thing and share a lot of classes. But because he and Pidge are childhood friends, we ended up hanging out a lot, and eventually, like space-ninja Lance over there said, our rivalry became less… aggressive. It was just a part of the way we interacted, a part of our friendship. Before I knew it, I was closer to Keith than I was to anyone else.” The soft smile didn’t leave Freckle-less Lance’s face as he spoke.

“The dynamic I have with Keith is… literally unlike any relationship I’ve had with anyone before. We push each other’s buttons like no-one else could, but he’s also my best friend, and I talk to him about things I wouldn’t normally even think about saying. That’s why we’re so good together.” The other Lances were nodding in agreement, and Lance found himself nodding, too. If Lance managed to pull himself out of the pit of denial he seemed to be living in, he could admit that that was exactly the way he saw Keith, too.

“The day we got together,” Freckle-less Lance continued, “We were hanging out at Keith and Pidge’s dorm. Pidge wasn’t home, so it was just the two of us. We were playing Mario Kart – that’s a video game, by the way, future boy,” he added, for the blue paladin’s benefit. “And Keith, that bastard, was winning at rainbow road, so obviously I had to do something about that. So I turned on a little of the old McClain charm, and uh…” Surprisingly, Freckle-less Lance’s cheeks reddened, and he scratched the back of his neck, his confident façade slipping into something more flustered. “I, um… I kissed him? Like, a few seconds before the end of the race? And he dropped his controller to kiss me back, but then I pulled away to cross the finish line…”

_Holy shit_.

“Oh my god.”

“You did _not_!”

“Holy shit, dude!”

The rest of the Lances were staring at Freckle-less Lance with varying expressions of shock, awe and slight respect. Letting out incredulous chortles, Older Lance and Paladin Lance each slapped a hand over their mouths, as if they felt bad about finding it funny. Lance may have found their identical reactions uncanny, had he not been too busy silently freaking out.

“Yup, I did that,” Freckle-less Lance laughed with a grin. “I actually thought he was never going to speak to me again. Luckily, though, he forgave me pretty quickly when I promised to take him out on a date – and gave him another kiss.”

“Fuck, man,” Older Lance shook his head, “You’ve got some balls. Either that, or you have no sense of self preservation.”

“Hey, I’m _you_ ,” Freckle-less Lance pointed out, “Technically, I didn’t do anything you guys wouldn’t…”

Meanwhile, Lance was losing his shit internally, because _yes_ , Freckle-less Lance had done something Lance wouldn’t do – _couldn’t_ , to be more accurate, because Lance had been in that _exact same situation_ a few months ago, except he, Regular Lance, was a coward, so he had just sat there uselessly and watched as Keith took first place on rainbow road. And then he’d crashed his Kart, because he got ridiculously flustered that the very _idea_ of doing something like that just to win the race had even crossed his mind. So, instead of a tingle in his lips that promised something more, Lance had been left with an unhappy pout and the bittersweet peal of Keith’s laughter ringing in his ears.

_Jesus_. Imagine if _he_ had Freckle-less Lance’s courage.

While Lance was having his little crisis, which luckily seemed to go unnoticed by the others, the conversation had moved on, and then they were all suddenly looking to Lance expectantly.

“So?” Older Lance prompted. “What’s your story with Keith?”

Lance blinked confusedly. “What? There is no story. I told you, we’re not… together.”

“Oh, come on,” Paladin Lance said, “Sure, there’s no romance _yet_ , but you’ve got a story.”

“No, I – It’s just the same as his.” He gestured to Freckle-less Lance. “Except, no romantic stuff.”

“Hey, don’t be like that,” Older Lance said, nudging him, “It’s the _differences_ we’re interested in. We spilled the beans, gave you the juicy details. Now it’s your turn!”

“No, seriously, I’m –” Lance sighed, frowning bitterly. A crease formed between his brows, fingers tapping against his thigh in a restless movement.

“You want to know the difference?” he blurted after a moment. “The _difference_ is that I’m a loser and a coward.” As the other Lances looked taken aback, as if they wanted to contradict him, Lance quickly raised his hands to stop them and continued. “I mean it, I’m not like you guys. I’ve never had a sweet love story, or cool adventures, or interesting hobbies, or anything more than a mediocre life. There’s… there’s nothing special about me. And why is that? Why are you guys all just so much – so much better than me?”

Stopping, Lance bit his lip, lowering his hands where they’d been creating gestures in the air and looking down at his shoes, a little embarrassed. In his petulant state, he could have been back with his siblings, throwing a tantrum because, as the youngest, he was so often excluded or left behind. It was that childlike kind of immaturity and silliness that crept up in his throat even now.

There was a brief pause while the other Lances looked at each other, and Regular Lance felt like a mouse under their scrutiny.

“Hey, um, to be fair I’m like, six years older than you right now,” Older Lance pointed out. “At your age… I’d just crashed my first real Garrison-issue aircraft, and I was on the brink of getting booted.”

_At my age, you were dating Keith_ , Lance thought, and immediately internally slapped himself, fighting a blush. He knew what Older Lance meant, sort of.

“And me, most of my situation is pure dumb luck,” Paladin Lance added, “It’s not like being flung into space was some brilliant achievement of my own. It was an accident. I was just running after Keith. At the end of the day, back on earth, I’d be just like you, and vice versa.”

“Yeah, but,” Lance sighed, glancing at his freckle-less counterpart. “What about you, then? You’re literally living my own life better than I ever could.” Feeling smaller than ever, Lance tried not to wince at how dejected he sounded. He wondered, bitterly, how much differently his life could have turned out if he had been born with clear, freckle-free skin. He wondered just how much of a difference it truly wound have made, or if his nature ran deeper than that. Perhaps he was just cursed to live his life at a standard that was terminally below average, just inches below everything that would give him the satisfaction he so desperately craved. What was he, when even out of these alternate versions of _himself_ , he found himself trailing behind?

Tentatively, Freckle-less Lance placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder, drawing him out of his thoughts. When Lance looked up, meeting his eyes, he was hit with the jarring feeling that he was looking into a mirror – the eyes studying him were the exact same shape and shade of blue of his own, framed by angular eyebrows that were perfectly arched to match. His bangs, tousled and curled, fell over his forehead in the same messy locks that Lance often ran his fingers through habitually. If Lance raised an eyebrow, or made a face, he’d almost expect this other Lance to reflect his movements. The only thing that shattered the illusion was the smooth, clear caramel of the skin of his cheeks.

“Hey, man,” Freckle-less Lance started, “I’m not living your life. _You_ are. We’re in different places, but there’s nothing wrong with that at all. We may both be Lance, but we’re not the same person. You can take your own path.”

Lance frowned. “But we _are_ the same person. The only difference is, you’ve done everything I’d never be able to do.”

“Well, then,” Freckle-less Lance grinned. “I guess you’re just left with the knowledge that if I could do it, then you sure as hell can do it too. You know, it’s never too late to switch majors.” He winked, a twinkle in his eye.

Lance looked at him, then to the other Lance’s, who were smiling encouragingly. Paladin Lance had a hand on his hip, watching fondly, whilst Older Lance was looking at him as if he was watching his son take his first steps. It made him feel, surprisingly, warm and fuzzy inside.

Turning back to Freckle-less Lance, he hesitated for a moment, before voicing once of his most secret insecurities. “And… Keith?”

At that, Freckle-less Lance let out an almost involuntary laugh. “Just go for it, man,” he assured him, “I can tell you – in confidence, of course – that boy has liked you since that first day you ambushed him on campus, cursing his stupid emo face and calling him your ‘football rival’."

The memory brought a small smile to Lance’s face. Actually he’d been cursing Keith’s stupid emo _mullet_ , since his Keith actually had one of those. Even so, he was still unsure.

“How… How do you know it’s not different in my reality?”

“Pfft, are you kidding?” Paladin Lance asked, cutting in. “Do you see the way he’s looking at you right now?”

With a start, Lance quickly whipped his head around and, to his shock, he immediately locked eyes with Keith, standing a few yards away with all the other Keiths. Upon realizing he was caught, Keith’s dark eyes widened, the crooked smile he’d been wearing slipping. A little awkwardly, he tried to play it off by giving Lance a tiny, hesitant wave, and then quickly turning back to his group before he could react.

“Holy shit,” Lance found himself muttering in awe. Around him, the other Lance’s tried to hide their grins and snickers.

That was when Lance felt the first flower of hope bloom in his chest. Okay, perhaps he wasn’t a hero like Paladin Lance, or a pilot like Older Lance, or even living life to the fullest of his potential, like Freckle-less Lance, but he was still Lance McClain, and you know what? He was still pretty awesome.

Maybe he would find the courage to finally switch majors and rekindle his forgotten passion for space. Maybe he’d rediscover his old love for swimming and surfing that he’d left behind on Varadero beach all those years ago. And one day, maybe, just maybe, he’d pluck up the nerve to tell Keith how he really felt. He found himself smiling. Yeah. That… that might be nice.

“And there we go, he’s smiling again,” Older Lace cheered. “Mission accomplished, everyone.”

“Well, it’s nice to know that no matter the universe, my insecurities are still very much a thing,” Paladin Lance commented, to which the rest of them smiled in agreement.

“But you know what?” Freckle-less Lance said. “Keith really helps with that. He helps balance me out, let me know when I’m thinking too much or drifting too far.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that too!” Paladin Lance agreed. “I don’t think I’d survive out here – in space, I mean – if I didn’t have him with me.”

Despite himself, Lance wondered what it would be like if his own Keith was the same. Would he comfort with a tender smile, with gentle kisses and caresses? Would there be loving words of assurance mixed with sweet nothings as he pulled Lance close? Or maybe Keith would be more subtle in his support upon finding Lance alone, lost in his thoughts, and come over with a teasing smile and a snarky comment to draw Lance back to him. He might casually lace their fingers together, snapping Lance out of his dark state of mind and bringing him down to Earth – reminding him that he was here, that he was loved.

Lance didn’t know which scenario was most likely, but God, he knew he really wanted to find out.

“Man, it’s such a fucking shame we won’t remember any of this,” Older Lance commented with a sigh. “I mean, I’m still not convinced that this isn’t a dream, but if this is all real, and we forget? Damn, that’s almost worse.”

As if on cue, Lance felt the edges of his vision begin to blur slightly. Looking around, he noticed that all the others were beginning to shimmer, flickering in and out of translucency.

“And what a coincidence, on that note, I guess our time is pretty much up,” Paladin Lance spoke up, looking down at himself. “I’ll see you guys… never, I s’pose.”

Lance, blinked, and glanced down at himself, too. His body was almost transparent – he could see straight through his hand to the emptiness on the other side. “Huh.”

Before he could fade into nothing, Freckle-less Lance grabbed Lance by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Lance,” he told him seriously, “The next time you see Keith, you are going to ask him out or I swear to god, I will personally track you down from across the multiverse just to bitch-slap the shit out of the both of you. Got it?”

Lance nodded dumbly.

“Good,” Freckle-less Lance patted his cheek with a grin. As Lance’s vision went clouded and the people around him slipped away, he heard his alternate-universe clone’s last words of wisdom ringing out around him.

“ _Go get your man_.”

When Lance awoke, he found himself propped against the headboard of his bed at his dorm, his laptop still open and playing some sitcom that he’d already forgotten the name of. Groaning, Lance almost reached to rub at his face groggily before he remembered that he was wearing a face-mask. Well, he thought, stretching his aching spine, at least he hadn’t forgotten his skincare routine last night. It wasn’t often that Lance’s ADHD left him with insomnia, but last night had been one of those nights. He probably got around four hours – and that was if he was being generous.

Well. Nothing a good coffee wouldn’t be able to fix. 

As he trudged to the teeny tiny bathroom and started to take off his mask, Lance tried to remember the dream he’d been having. For some reason, he had a nagging feeling that it had been important, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was that had been so crucial about it.

Trying to shrug it off, Lance went about his normal morning routine, brushing his teeth and freshening up. Since he didn’t have any classes today, he was planning on visiting Hunk that afternoon, so he may as well be ready now. Luckily, Lance’s roommate never seemed to be home, so he didn’t have to worry about minding his habit of singing along absently to whatever tune he had stuck in his head.

Perhaps, Lance thought, pulling on his jeans, he’d hang out with Pidge and play video games this morning. Sure, he had like three assignments due in a couple of days, but today was one of those days where he knew he’d end up getting absolutely nothing done. He knew that the gremlin spent most of her time at her dorm doing something with her computers and gadgets, so it shouldn’t be too hard to pester her into entertaining him. Plus, the idea came with the added bonus that he’d probably bump into Keith…

_Keith_.

Lance froze, in the middle of putting his jacket on.

Something to do with Keith. That’s what it was. He had to see Keith. He had to…

_Go get your man._

Before Lance knew it, he was out of his door and was running faster than he’d ever run in his life in the direction of Keith and Pidge’s dorm.

He bumped into at least five people in his haste. He may have knocked over someone’s drink, he wasn’t entirely sure, but he was rushing off before she could even utter so much as an indignant _hey!_ The adrenaline pumping in his veins left no room for question. Within two minutes flat, he found himself bounding up the stairs to Keith’s building, taking them two at a time.

When Lance arrived at the dorm, panting and red-faced, he took a moment to catch his breath, before straightening and giving the door three successive, somewhat triumphant knocks.

When the door opened, Lance was greeted with Pidge’s utterly unamused face. Clearly, she hadn’t got much sleep either, judging from the bags under her eyes.

“Hey,” Lance breathed, barely sparing her a glance, “Is Keith –?”

“Knife boy!” she yelled, before Lance even had the chance to finish. “You have a very annoying visitor that I’m too fucking tired to deal with right now.”

“Who is it?” came Keith’s voice. He emerged from behind her, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and _wow_ , did he look good. Hair mussed from sleep, he was stifling a yawn, still wearing the sweatpants and hoodie he’d obviously slept in. He blinked when he noticed Lance. “Oh.”

He seemed unsure how to continue, just looking at Lance confusedly while Pidge retreated back into their dorm. Lance, for his part, had forgotten how to breathe. He was wholly occupied in tracing his eyes over Keith’s face, memorizing all the contours of his pale cheeks, the deepness of his dark gaze, the arched angle of his brows and the sharp curve of his jawline.

Lance took a shaky step forward, then another. Slowly, tentatively, he raised his hands to cup Keith’s face in his hands. He felt the heat in his friend’s cheeks as he blushed, blinking in surprise. 

“Lance?” he whispered.

Almost subconsciously, Lance’s eyes flickered to Keith’s lips for a fraction of a second.

It was enough for Keith to get the message, his breath hitching almost imperceptibly. Suddenly, he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off of Lance’s own lips.

They held their positions for a total of two seconds, before, like a dam breaking, they closed the gap.

Despite his vehement streak of denial, Lance had often found himself imagining what it would be like to kiss Keith, many, many times. In his head, it had always started with a heated argument, getting up in each other’s faces, and then suddenly, without warning, they would be kissing. A searing, bruising kiss, where Keith grabbed him by the shirt, and Lance pulled at Keith’s hair harshly. Intense, heavy, heated, just like most of their interactions played out.

Kissing Keith in reality wasn’t like that at all.

The way their lips brushed was searing, but gentle. Careful. Like they were testing the waters. Keith had a hand fisted into the front of Lance’s shirt, but there was nothing aggressive in the gesture – it felt more like he was grounding himself, keeping Lance close, almost to assure himself that he was actually here. Lance’s fingers were tangled in Keith’s hair, but he was cradling his head, threading his fingers between the strands gently. Their touch was hesitant, but somehow more passionate than anything Lance could ever have dreamed up.

When they parted, they were both blushing fiercely, staring at each other like they were seeing each other for the first time. Despite the kiss lasting barely a few seconds, Lance was left breathless, and by the look on Keith’s face, he was too. When Lance moistened his lips absently, his stomach flipped as he noticed Keith’s eyes subtly track the movement, his adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. In the background, Lance could hear the muffled sound of Pidge saying, ‘ _holy fucking shit, Hunk, you’re not gonna believe this.”_

And that was when Lance snapped out of whatever insane burst of courage had possessed him to do this. Suddenly, he was hyper aware of their closeness, and of what he’d just done. Wow. Lance must be a lot more sleep deprived than he’d realized.

“Um,” he uttered intelligently, pulling back a little. Keith seemed too stunned to speak, just blinking at Lance like he was struggling to compute what had just happened

Well, Lance thought to himself, there was no backing out now. Might as well go all out.

Clearing his throat, Lance scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and glanced back at Keith, his gaze hesitant, and maybe just a little hopeful.

“So, um…” he said. “Wanna go on a date with me?”

**Author's Note:**

> and then they got married :)
> 
> Could I have done without the last, like, 1k words? Probably. Would my Klance brain have let me rest if I hadn’t written it? Nope, never.
> 
> And now I highkey want to write a fic about the scenario Freckle-less Lance described about how he and Keith got together...
> 
> Btw I’m sorry I only gave Keith like 3 lines of dialogue in this, I promise I love him really!
> 
> Please leave a comment if you have any thoughts at all! <3
> 
> [My tumblr](https://kosmo-mckogane.tumblr.com/)


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